2006 2006 Highlights
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
NRCS: Helping People Help the Land
Partnerships expand the reach and depth of conservation on the land. Individually, NRCS’ conservation partnerships have a diversity of expertise in discipline, location/area, and focus. As partners in conservation, these groups share their unique areas of expertise and conservation work to put more conservation on the land. Our partners include:
• sportsman groups • agricultural and environmental
groups
“Cooperative conservation is making our natural resources healthier and more productive, our communities better places to live, and our country stronger and more prosperous.” Arlen Lancaster Chief, NRCS
• • • • •
conservation districts local communities colleges and universities professional societies agribusinesses
• resource conservation and
development councils
• Vermont state agencies
Management Practices Help Protect Lake Champlain
The Conants of Riverside Farm have worked closely over the years with NRCS to install a modern waste management system that controls runoff from the barns and feed storage areas. They implemented many practices to protect the waters of the Winooski River, including vegetative buffers along streams flowing into the river as well as similar buffers along the river banks. They also developed a comprehensive nutrient management plan specifically for the farm that details soil, water and nutrient management practices. As a result of their conservation efforts, the Conants became the first recipients of the annual Lake Champlain Farm Award.
Conservation Partnerships Work for the Health of Vermont
The completion of 500 acres of Vermont farmland planted to buffers, averaging 25 feet to 100 feet wide, now provide protection to over 55 miles along Addison County streams. Governor Jim Douglas was on hand at the Devries Farm to help establish a riparian or forest buffer under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). CREP is a partnership between the Farm Service Agency, State of Vermont, NRCS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and most importantly, the farmers and landowners who voluntarily participate. The state’s monetary support for the program along with funds from USDA provide financial incentives to landowners to fence cattle out of streams and plant trees and grasses in buffers to filter out runoff nutrients before they enter the water.
NRCS Field Offices
Addison County 68 Catamount Park, Middlebury 802 388-6748 Bennington County 310 Main St. P.O. Box 505, Bennington 802 442-2275 Caledonia & Essex Counties 481 Summer St. St. Johns bury 802 748-2641 Chittenden County 1193 South Brownell Rd. Williston 802 865-7895 Orange & Washington Counties 617 Comstock Rd., Berlin 802 828-4493 Franklin & Grand Isle Counties 27 Fisher Pond Rd., St. Albans 802 527-1296 Lamoille County 109 Professional Drive, Morrisville 802 888-4935 Orleans County 59 Waterfront Plaza, Newport 802 334-6090 Rutland County 170 South Main St., Rutland 802 775-8034 Windham County 28 Vernon St.., Brattleboro 802 254-9766 Windsor County 28 Farm Drive, White River Jct. 802 295-7942
Vermont’s Agricultural Statistics (2002)
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Agriculture = $556 million; of that, Milk sales = $400 million 6,700 farms including 1,415 dairy farms 152,000 dairy cows Milk = 2.6 billion pounds
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
100 million pounds of cheese Average farm size = 200 acres 1.34 million acres in agriculture First in the nation in maple syrup production
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Beef production = $60 million Fruits, veggies = $23 million Christmas trees = $1 million with a value of over $9 million Greenhouse, nursery and landscape industry = more than $100 million annually
Farms for Vermont’s Future
“We’re definitely in it for the long haul”, said Loren Wood of Wood Notch Farms, Shoreham, as he, his wife Gail and their four sons added 243 acres to 1,300 acres of farmland already conserved. This is the third purchase of conserved farmland the multi-generational family has made in their efforts to enlarge and expand their dairy operation that currently milks 260 cows and maintains a total herd of 550 cows. Working through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the Vermont Land Trust, NRCS helped purchase the parcel of land, increasing a contiguous 4,000 acre block of conserved farmland along the shores of Lake Champlain. As part of the agreement, and to encourage the continuation of good farming practices, a whole farm plan that addresses all resource concerns on the farm was developed. The plan will be kept current and erosion on highly erodible land controlled. A Special Treatment Area for 37 acres of clayplain forest was also established, limiting harvesting to single trees and small groups of trees during the winter months. There are public benefits too! An easement was granted for a public access trail along an old railroad bed that runs along the boundary of a nearby 14acre subdivision.
“Cows Don’t Go to School” or “Economic Reasons to Keep Farmland in Vermont”
Farms keep taxes down and demand little in public infrastructure . Residents who pay $1.00 in taxes require $1.27 in services. Farms require 29 cents in services and industry, 26 cents. Farms are lowcost economic development. Addison and Franklin Co. farms provide more than 10% of the jobs in the region and add over $450 million to the economy. Of this, $170 million goes to agribusinesses. Vermont’s farmland conservation programs have protected more than 300 farms and 100,000 acres of farmland in Vermont. Per capita, Vermont has spent more on farmland protection —over $42 million overall—than any other state in the nation. NRCS’ partners in land preservation includes the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Vermont Land Trust, VT Agency of Agriculture, Addison County Land Trust, and the Upper Valley Land Trust.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
State Office 356 Mountain View Drive Colchester, VT 05446
Phone: 802 951 6795 Fax: 802 951 6327
Restoring Natural Connections to the Natural Environment
Aquatic and riparian habitats, including five acres of wetlands, are now much improved along the Lamoille River, since the connection to its floodplain has been restored. The Lamoille Valley Railroad operated for over a hundred years traveling east to west in northern Vermont before the 1995 and 1997 floods washed out the railroad bed between Wolcott and Hardwick. Constructed alongside much of the Lamoille River in the late 1800’s, some of the river’s floodplain was filled in to create the rail bed and to protect trains from flooding. Hundreds of acres of floodplain were isolated, reducing sediment and nutrient storage capacity in the river corridor, impacting aquatic, wetland and riparian habitats, and intensifying erosion and flooding in many areas. No longer operational, the rail corridor is slated to become a recreational trail, creating an opportunity for an innovative conservation project to restore the river’s floodplain access by lowering the rail bed. The project, funded through the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), removed over 6,000 cubic yards of earth fill from a 1,500 foot section. Partners in the project included the Lamoille County NRCS, the Vermont Agencies of Natural Resources and Transportation, the Lamoille Co. Natural Resources Conservation District and neighboring landowners.